A sophist, son of Hegesibulus, of Clazomenae. He was nicknamed 'Mind', since he said that matter and mind are the guardian of all things. This is the man who said that the sun is a red-hot mass.[1]
That is, a fiery stone.
He was exiled from Athens, [despite] Pericles speaking in his defence, and he came to Lampsacus and there he starved himself to death. He put an end to his life at the age of 70, because he had been put in prison by [the] Athenians on the grounds that he was trying to introduce a novel belief about god. [It is said] that Anaxagoras at Olympia, during a dry period, came to the stadium in a sheepskin; it is said that he did this to forecast rain.[2] And he foretold very many other things. This man, who came from Clazomenae, gave over his property to both cattle and camels. Apollonius of Tyana said of him that he was more a philosopher for beasts than for human beings.[3] Crates of Thebes[4] threw his property into the sea, doing something of no advantage either to beasts or to human beings.